Red Bull retain team title in Korea, Force India collect a point
October 16th, 2011 - 7:36 pm ICT by IANSYeongam (South Korea), Oct 16 (IANS) Sebastian Vettel’s victory in the Korean Grand Prix here Sunday helped Red Bull retain the Constructor’s title of the 2011 Formula One season while Paul di Resta of Sahara Force India managed a point by finishing 10th.
Vettel stormed to his 10th win of the year a clear 12 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who started the 55-lap race on pole position. Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber secured the final podium position. The German sealed his second drivers’ title in Japan last week.
Force India, aiming for their third doubles points finish, were beaten by a faster rival team on the day - Toro Rosso - whose drivers Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi came home in seventh and ninth place.
It was in fact Buemi who got past di Resta on Lap 50, snatching an extra point from the newly named Indian team.
Force India’ s more experienced driver Adrian Sutil finished just outside the points bracket at 11th position.
Di Resta conceded that they did not have the pace to match Toro Rosso.
“It is good to come away with a point, but ultimately we didn’t have the performance to match Toro Rosso,” said di Resta.
“It looked like we might be able to hold off Buemi in the final laps, but we came up six or seven laps too short with the tyres and I couldn’t hold him back. In terms of tyres, we probably should have been a bit more aggressive with the strategy and used my new supersofts at the start of the race, rather than the used set.”
Force India had planned for a three-stop strategy but a safety car intervention on Lap 17 made them switch to a two-stopper.
Deputy team principal Robert Fernley said they lost the points battle against Toro Rosso towards the end of the race and vowed to perform better in the remaining three race including the Indian Grand Prix in two weeks time.
“In many ways it was a fairly straightforward race for us. We spent the whole race in a close tussle with Toro Rosso and they got the better of us in the end. They were particularly strong in the final stint and that is when Beumi was able to jump ahead of Paul,” said Fernley.
“Our next stop is the team’s home race in New Delhi, which is an event that everyone in the team is looking forward to. It will be a historic race for Formula One and hopefully we can deliver a strong showing in front of the Indian fans.”
Force India remain sixth in the Constructor’s Championship with 49 points, ahead of Sauber on 40 and Toro Rosso on 37.
- Hamilton wins Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, both Force Indias in top-10 - Nov 13, 2011
- Vettel claims another pole, Sutil sneaks into 10th at European GP - Jun 25, 2011
- Alonso wins British Grand Prix, Force India draw blank - Jul 10, 2011
- Vettel wins Belgian Grand Prix, Sutil seventh - Aug 28, 2011
- Vettel races to another victory, Sutil finishes 9th at European GP - Jun 26, 2011
- Di Resta earns four points for Force India - Sep 09, 2012
- Red Bull's Vettel takes pole for Chinese Grand Prix - Apr 16, 2011
- Happy to log points in inaugural Indian GP: Sutil - Oct 30, 2011
- Italian GP: Di Resta's 8th place puts Force India ahead of Sauber - Sep 11, 2011
- Force India's Hulkenberg finishes 9th at German GP - Jul 22, 2012
- Vettel wins a near perfect race, Sutil finishes ninth (Roundup) - Oct 30, 2011
- Button storms to victory in Hungarian GP, di Resta seventh - Jul 31, 2011
- Force India's Hulkenberg finishes fourth in Belgium - Sep 02, 2012
- Force India finish out of points at British GP - Jul 08, 2012
- Karthikeyan completes race for first time, no points for Force India - Apr 17, 2011
Tags: adrian sutil, extra point, fernley, final laps, force india, formula one, korean grand prix, lap race, lewis hamilton, mark webber, pole position, principal robert, red bull, resta, rival team, safety car, sebastian vettel, south korea, team principal, tussle